Ordinary diners who take part in our annual survey each spring review restaurants and leave their feedback, but we also ask them to score restaurants from 1-5 on food, service and ambience. Harden’s then uses an average of these scores and measures them against other establishments in the same price bracket to arrive at the ratings published in the guide and online.

Snippets from some of your feedback may end up in the overall Harden’s review, noticeably they appear in “double quotation marks”. The rest of our pithy, bite-sized restaurant summaries are compiled by analysing the survey data and extracting recurring themes, looking at whether or not a venue was nominated in any of our categories – like ‘favourite’ or ‘most overpriced’ – and, of course, looking at the ratings for food, service and ambience.

The Harden’s ratings indicate that a restaurant is:

exceptional very good good average poor

All reviews are compiled from survey comments and ratings, without any regard for our own personal opinions, except in cases where restaurants are too new to have been included in the survey. If you want the editors’ view on new restaurants in London you can find them in our Editors’ Review section.

Belfast Restaurant Guide

Harden's Guides have been compiling reviews of the best restaurants in Belfast since 1998.

Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Belfast

Hardens guides have spent 15 years compiling reviews of the best Belfast restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 65 restaurants in Belfast and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Belfast restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.

A contemporary twist to some great Irish classics keeps Niall McKennas well-established destination (celebrating 15 years this year) at the forefront of the local dining scene. Theres an à la carte menu, but fans recommend the divine tasting menu which provides a four-course and five-course option.

Launched in 2013 by local boy Stephen Toman (ex-of James Street South) and Brittany native Alain Kerloch, this acclaimed riverside venue is artfully austere in design, and the cooking is exceptional  real haute cuisine with a sense of place. Try the Ox Cave next door for a great wine experience plus wonderful charcuterie and cheese.

2014 Review: This sophisticated hotel dining room, in a former bank, is a seriously good place to eat amid wonderful decor; for some fans, though, it's more about the cocktails served in the adjoining jazz bar.

The changing blackboard menu of fish dishes including shellfish sourced from the owners own beds, plus great service and a lovely atmosphere ensure the ongoing popularity of this local landmark, situated in boozer-like premises (also hosting a fishmongers and cookery school). So good we went twice in the same weekend!

2016 Review: Its hard to get better value (especially at lunchtime) than at this trendy but casual Italian in Ballyhackamore Village; theres a great variety of dishes  you can choose something different every time!

2016 Review: Very tasty small dishes and well-balanced mains win plenty of fans for this Cathedral Quarter Italian; even a reporter who finds it too dark (you can hardly read the menu) concedes that it's otherwise excellent.

Renowned and inventive chef Joery Castel, who moved recently from the multi-award-winning Boathouse in Bangor has set up Belfasts most luxurious new eatery, in a beautiful old church plushly converted by celeb designer Kris Turnbull. Enter through an interior design shop and be rewarded with wonderful food, including a not-too-expensive tasting menu.

2017 Review: A relaxed dining experience that always provides a tempting menu and an excellent wine list; Michael Deanes large, popular bar/brasserie (with outside terrace), in the University Quarter, won consistently high ratings across the board this year, especially for business entertaining.